Flesh
by Atarashii Tanjou
Summary: Hide is dragged into a club by Haise in an attempt to avoid Rize. Hide soon realizes that he has a bigger problem - it's a strip club, and Kaneki is one of the dancers. NOTE: This is my first attempt at Hideki. Please go easy on me, and enjoy! Rated T for certain hints and situations.


It had been a normal day. College, his part-time job, and now the walk home. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and leaves rustled in the gentle breeze. Yes, Nagachika Hideyoshi was content. But then, it was all shattered.

The blonde stumbled as an arm yanked at him, desperately. "Hide-san!" The familiar wail brought him up short, brown eyes widening in surprise. "You gotta help me!"

"Eh…? Haise?" Hide was bewildered. He'd never seen Haise in such a state. Usually, Haise was reserved and quiet, a lot like his twin, Kaneki. "What's going on?" Protective instincts flared in Hide's chest at Haise's appearance. The boy's hair was mussed, eyes wide with apparent panic, and - oh god, were those _tears_ threatening to fall?!

"She's chasing me, Hide! She won't leave me alone - save me!" The boy's expression morphed into puppy eyes and almost-comical vulnerability. Haise looked over his shoulder, paling. "Rize is coming! Help!"

Hide sweatdropped. He was aware that Rize had her eye on Kaneki, and, by extension, Haise. While the blonde knew that Kaneki declined her advances, Haise was more awkward and shy - and far too polite.

A sickeningly sweet voice wafted through the spring air. "Haise-kun~ where did you go?" The boy tightened his grip on Hide's arm, jacket almost slipping, and Hide's resolve hardened. "It's not polite to run from a lady, you know~" Striding forward with Haise close behind, he froze as a coy voice whispered in his ear. "I. Found. You!"

Haise shrieked, dashing down the street with Hide in tow. Rize cackled behind them, giving chase. The blonde managed to find his feet after stumbling, and spoke lowly to the shaken boy. "Let's find Kaneki. He'll know how to deal with this." Haise nodded frantically, turning abruptly into a darkened alleyway. Hide didn't have time to be confused as the panicked twin pulled him between two buildings, into a dimly-lit room.

"Ara~? Where did you go, Haise-kun…? You and your delicious little friend cannot hide from me forever…" The blonde listened past his pounding heart intently, straining to hear Rize's heels approaching. Haise pulled insistently against his elbow, tugging him away from the doorway, and Hide turned reluctantly, relief filling him when no clicking steps echoed behind them. Finally able to pay full attention to their surroundings as Haise maneuvered them past cramped equipment and what looked like overstuffed closets.

The shy boy pushed open a door, and Hide's mind blanked of all coherent thought.

Pounding bass and dimmed lights flickered in the club, shadowing the performers, but leaving more to the imagination. Hide opened his mouth to ask _why_ Haise had suddenly decided to pull them into a _strip club_ when a new voice interrupted.

"Oi! Haise!" Both of the boys turned in surprise, but Haise's pale face lit up with a smile, apparently recognizing the woman before them, perched behind the bar. "You lookin' for your bro, or what?"

Haise raced towards the bar, dragging a confused and somewhat mortified Hideyoshi with him. "Touka! I didn't know that you were working tonight!" Looking around, he cocked his head, bewildered. "Is Yoriko-chan not here tonight?" The blue-haired girl snorted, setting a glass back in place.

"Nah, she's at home, studying for an exam." Smiling fondly, she shook her head. "What're you doin' here tonight, anyway? You know he's almost on." Hide glanced back and forth between the boy gripping his arm and the bartender, thoroughly lost. The girl turned to him. "Who's this? Your boyfriend, or what?"

Hide had thought that Rize had Haise flustered enough, but the boy's eyes bugged out of his head, and his pale face darkened to crimson. Flailing his hands back and forth, he denied it frantically. "Eh?! No no no no, Touka-chan! This is…" Looking down, Haise took a breath. "This is Nagachika Hideyoshi, and he helped me get away from Rize-san. We're looking for Kaneki. He'll be done soon, right?"

Touka studied the blond boy, taking in the easygoing attitude and kind brown eyes. There was a residual blush stained on his cheeks from her blunt questioning about his relation to the younger twin. A snicker shook her shoulders, and she motioned to the stage. "Why don't you see for yourself?"

No sooner had the words left her mouth, the lights extinguished, plunging them all into darkness, and the music halted. A voice boomed over the speakers. "And now, we give you our very own Eyepatch!" A figure stalked onto the stage, barely visible in the darkness, and music began to ripple through the air. A spotlight abruptly shone down on the dancer, and Hide choked on his next breath.

He'd recognize that hair anywhere. He'd recognize that face no matter what, though the confidence, the toned nature of the lithe man on stage, coiled seductively around the pole, made his heart pound in ways he hadn't quite experienced before. It was uncomfortable and embarrassing, but Hide found he couldn't look away as his best friend, his most precious person, twisted and writhed erotically for the audience.

Touka chuckled under her breath, observing the stark difference between the boy a few moments ago, lost and confused, and the man before her now, staring at his friend as though he were seeing the sun for the first time. Haise covered his face with his hands, blushing all the way to his ears, and the girl grabbed his shoulder over the bar, plunking him onto a barstool and passing him a water bottle.

Hide had heard of these kind of places. Clubs were quite common, but this sort were hidden away, where the general public and the less-accepting populace wouldn't stumble in by accident. He had never dared visit one, and now, here he was, staring at his friend on the stage, dead to the rest of the world.

Distantly, he remembered Kaneki's discomfort when asked about his job. He was working at the coffee shop, but Hide had teased him before about his secret job, costing him the other half of each day, but with exceptionally more cash at the end of his shift. The other boy had always stuttered excuses, reminding Hide of Haise at times, and refused to expand upon it. And now? Now Hide knew why.

Still dancing suggestively, _Eyepatch_ glanced around the room. There was a new gaze on him, one that felt familiar, different from the usual patrons. Scanning by the bar, Kaneki's eyes first lit upon Haise, hiding his face from his brother's lewd act upon the stage. A smirk flashed across his face, hidden by the mask he wore, and his eyes skipped to Touka. She looked… unusually pleased with herself, arms crossed and leaning against the bar. She caught him looking, and snorted, jerking her head to the right.

Intrigued, Kaneki followed her directions… and felt his heart freeze in his chest. Oh, no. This absolutely could not be happening.

What the _fuck_ was Hide doing here?

Despite his shock, he knew that he had to continue dancing. Behind his confident expression, however, his mind was racing. Kaneki had tried so hard to keep his second job a secret. Though he loved working at the coffee shop, the pay just wasn't enough to support both himself and Haise. When Touka had offered him a spot at the new club, he accepted blindly, only finding out the true nature of it all on his first day. She had just smirked at his protests, silencing him with the knowledge that the pay was _very_ good and that the owner of the establishment had a firm look-but-don't-touch policy.

The darker part of Kaneki's mind, however, relished this knowledge, that he had been seen, that surely Hide had connected the dots by now. He had wondered about his friend's attentions for a while, but the way that Hide was apparently entranced by _him_ … well, it was certainly empowering. If his cover was blown, perhaps a show was all he needed to give this time.

Putting his all into his movements, he grinned at the immediate change in his friend's countenance. It was time to take things up a notch. Unzipping the mask, he pulled it from his face, contorting erotically around the unyielding metal at his back. Drawing his arm back, he aimed and flung the material directly into the surprised hands of his best friend.

Hide was snapped from his daze when an object hit his chest, falling into his open hands. Turning it over, he studied the shiny vinyl, the zipper between the teeth, and the extension of fabric meant to cover part of a face. Snapping his head up, his wide brown eyes met the deviously mismatched eyes of the object of his affections, staring him down passionately.

Locking eyes, Hide felt a thrill pulse through him, tightening his lower stomach with increasing desire as Kaneki Ken, the _Eyepatch_ , began removing articles of tight clothing, incorporating his seductive actions into his dance. It was as though the entire club dropped away. All thoughts of Touka's eyes on him, Haise hiding in the corner, Rize's possible entrance, even his impending schoolwork - all of them fell away until it was just the two of them, a private show just for him.

Too soon, it was over. The song had ended, and Kaneki stilled upon the stage, the lights turning off and the crowd groaning in disappointment. The speaker bid the audience a good night, and Haise stood from the stool, shakily approaching his brother's friend. Touka sniggered quietly, thoroughly pleased with herself.

"Hey, lover boy!" As if waking from a dream, Hide turned his head to her, utterly dazed. "I'll keep little Haise company if you wanna go collect Kaneki - oops, _Eyepatch_ for the night. We'll be closing soon, and I'd _hate_ if Rize decided to drop in unexpectedly." It was a lie, of course; Haise squeaked in surprise, and Touka hid a smile. The stalker had never showed her face here - it was doubtful that she even knew about this hole in the wall. Girls like Rize didn't often want to realize that their targets just weren't interested. But Hideyoshi didn't know that, and his face tightened. She grinned slyly, shushing Haise discreetly when he tried to interrupt. "Oh, wait… I think I just saw her a moment ago. I'm not sure, though… maybe you should…" Hide was gone, pushing through the straggling customers before she even finished speaking.

Haise fixed her with a _look_ , and she slung her arm over his shoulders. "All's fair in love and war, Haise-kun. And he needed the push."

 ** _A/N - Hello, hello. I'm back with another new thing, although this is just a one-shot and will not be continued. Honestly, someone needs to stop me. I finished this fic several months ago and forgot about it (read: was embarrassed I wrote this), but I found it tonight and decided, "You know, maybe I should share this!" It's my first Tokyo Ghoul fic, and my first HideKi fanfiction. I hope it was acceptable... I'm not as well-versed in Tokyo Ghoul as I might like. As usual, thank you for reading, and please tell me what you thought! - AT_**


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